


13 Days

by Lancelot_of_the_revolution



Category: Original Work
Genre: Original Fiction, Road Trips, i just needed a place to post this
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-12-27
Updated: 2016-12-27
Packaged: 2018-09-12 18:17:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 4,325
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9083956
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lancelot_of_the_revolution/pseuds/Lancelot_of_the_revolution
Summary: Christmas present for my friend @gsnkhurray on tumblr! Aiden, Emi, and Dallas have been friends since grade school. in the summer between junior and senior year, Aiden takes the others on a road trip across the country.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [gsnkhurray](https://archiveofourown.org/users/gsnkhurray/gifts).



13 days: LA

Aiden had walked into emi’s room after school every friday of every week of every month of every year since 6th grade. It hadn’t changed much since the first time he’d stepped foot inside, there was still that flower shaped lamp on her desk that she had gotten at a garage sale at age 7, and that awful pink and yellow bedspread on her bed that hadn’t changed probably since moved into a “big girl bed” as a toddler. Emi was never one to fix things that weren’t broken, and it wasn't as though these things didn’t work anymore, so her room stayed as static as a picture until there was a reason to throw something out. Aiden swung open the door and made his way across the room to plop down on the bed, the same way he had for years.  
“Today is a big day, you two!” he announced, tossing his keys back and forth between his hands  
Emi looked up from her book, but said nothing. Their other friend, Dallas, payed Aiden no heed, continuing only to play on their DS.  
“I said- “  
“We heard you, Aiden,” Emi said,“but it isn’t news, everyone we know has been saying this for the past month and a half. The fact that we’re seniors now isn’t some sort of revelation,”  
The trio had graduated junior year earlier that day, making them seniors on technicality. Their parents didn’t shut up about how they were “practically grown ups” now- Dallas, in fact, was a “grown up”. They had turned 18 two weeks ago.  
Aiden shook his head, tossing blond curls every which-way, “That’s not what I was talking about,” he said, “though I would say the two are connected,” 

Emi raised an eyebrow, “well, then what else would you be talking about?”

Aiden hopped back up off the bed, now spinning the car keys around his index finger. 

With a grin on his face, he said “I’m talking about adventure!” he stopped spinning the keys around, instead taking to dangling them in front of his own face, looking at them like a mesmerized cat, “i’m talking about a once in a lifetime opportunity to spend the next two weeks in an enclosed space with yours truly!”

“That doesn’t sound like adventure,” Dallas said with an attempt to keep a straight face, “that sounds like torture!”  
“What do you mean, Aiden?” Emi asked. She had put down her book- a biography of Emily Dickinson- and was now sitting expectantly on her pillow.

“We’re going on a roadtrip!”

Emi frowned, and Dallas nodded. Dallas knew that something was coming up, because Aiden had mentioned something to them about a plan that would involve a lot of time traveling, to make sure they were okay with that. Emi, however, had no issue with long car rides, so this was news to her.

“I don’t think-” Emi started

“ that your parents would allow it?” Aiden cut her off, twisting around to face her, “You’re wrong. I know, because I already asked! About a month ago!”

Emi laughed, “how long have you been planning this?!”

Aiden tossed the keys to Emi, who caught them and quickly put them into her purse. 

“Longer than I would care to admit, my friend!,” he laughed, “Can I have my keys back?”

She shook her head, “no. when were you planning on leaving?”

“In about an hour, but the sooner the better. Why not?” Aiden was strolling around the room now, so Emi was once again talking to the back of Aiden’s head.

“The sound was annoying me,” she stated, matter-of-factly

“Here here!” Dallas agreed

“So you're giving us an hour to pack?” Emi said, standing up and straightening out her skirt. She started to make her way to the dresser, but Aiden shook his head.

“You're already packed! I asked your parents to pack for the two of you,” he explained

Dallas looked up, “Is that where my favorite shirt went? I was planning on wearing that today!” 

Aiden shrugged, “ah, sorry bro, but it probably is!”

Emi laughed, “well, then… I guess if you got everything together for us already, it’d be rude to say no, wouldn’t it?”

“I would think so,” Aiden said, “What do you say, Dallas?”

Dallas cocked their head, “You brought snacks?”

“Of course!”  
“What kind?”

“Lays party mix, beef jerky, you name it,”

“Halos? You know, those baby oranges?”

“You know it!”

“... mountain dew?”

Aiden faked offense, putting his hand to his chest and gasping, “What do you take me for, a fool?! Of course I brought dew!”

“Well… I guess…” Dallas tried to look like it was a difficult choice, but they were grinning like a cheshire cat.

Aiden gave a small applause, “terrific!” he said, before holding out his hand to Emi. “I need my keys, if we’re going to leave,” he said

Emi made a face like she was thinking very hard about something, her dark eyes sparkling with mischief, “hmm… actually, no,” she said

“Excuse me?”

She walked back over to get the keys out of her purse, “Yeah, you’re not getting these back,” she said. Aiden made a swipe for them, but Emi was too fast, and she tossed them to Dallas before Aiden could get to them.  
Dallas threw the keys in the air a few times before tossing them back the Emi, who tossed them back to dallas again. As the cycle repeated, Aiden made many a failed attempt to grab at the keys, until finally dropping down on the ground in defeat. Aiden’s surrender didn’t stop Emi and Dallas, though. They continued to play their game without him.  
“If you guys lose my damn keys, I’m telling ya-” Aiden started, right as a thud was heard in the back of the room.  
“What the hell was that?” Aiden stood up. Emi had her hand over her mouth in surprise.

“Uh… your keys,” Dallas frowned

“Where’d they go?” Aiden asked

“Behind my dresser!” Emi tried to look sorry, but she was laughing too hard

“You two are such children!” Aiden stomped over the the dresser, trying and failing to reach the keys.

“Oh, you’re one to talk!” Emi quipped

2 hours and one moved dresser later, the trio were an hour outside of Los Angeles city limits in Aiden’s red minivan.

Emi kicked a mountain dew can across the passenger seat floorboard, “this place is disgusting, you know that, right?”

“It took me a year and a half to get it this kind of cozy!” Aiden defended himself

“Did it take you a year and a half to get it this kind of smelly, too?” Dallas asked

“Shut up!”

“Yea, it smells like week old taco bell and booze in here, Aiden, and you don’t even drink! Why does it smell like cheap wine?!” Emi asked, searching the ground in front of her for the source of the smell.

Dallas picked up a mostly empty bottle of apple juice off the floorboard, “I think I found the culprit…” they opened the bottle a tad, and gagged from the smell. They rolled down the window and made a move like they were gonna toss the bottle out, but then decided better of it. “dude! How long has it been since you cleaned this car?!” 

Aiden shrugged, “since I got it, I think,”

Emi looked at Aiden with a mixture of amazement and disgust, while Dallas pulled out their DS and started a replay of Pokemon Sun.  
“Anyway… what’s the plan?” Emi asked

“Hm?”

“The plan. Like, where are we going?”

“Oh. well, first I’m taking you to my second house in Chicago, then I’ll chop up Dallas into little bits and I’ll throw Emi into the acid basement-”

Dallas cut him off, “dude, what the hell?!” 

Aiden smiled, “H.H. Holmes, Chicago murder castle. Watched a documentary about it on t.v. the other night. It’s messed up shit, let me tell you-”

“Actually,” Emi said, “I would rather you didn’t. Now, where are we going?”

“We are actually going to Chicago, that wasn’t a joke. I’m not killing you, though. Maybe,” he winked into the rear view mirror so that the other two could see him, “We’re just going sight seeing is all,”

“Chicago?! That’s all the way across the country!” Emi exclaimed  
“Yep!” Aiden said, “and that’s not even the best of it! We’re going the scenic route! It’ll take us 8 days to get there and two days to get back! Plus the three days in Chicago, that’s 13!”

“7 days? Where are we going?”

“First down to Houston, then over to Nashville, then up to Chicago, then finally back home to LA”  
Emi and Dallas looked at each other, as though considering this plan. Emi nodded, then Dallas nodded back and Emi twisted back around to sitting correctly.

“To Houston!” Dallas said from the back seat

“TO HOUSTON!” the others agreed.


	2. 10 days

10 days: Houston  
“When you said Houston, I was thinking more along the lines of tourist spots downtown than a Mexican restaurant with Christmas lights in the windows in the middle of a tiny shopping center…” Emi shut the car door behind her and started toward the restaurant in front of her. The sign on the roof said “El Imperial”

“Yeah, me too,” Aiden explained, “But when my aunt found out we were going to Houston she told me we just had to go he- ow!”

“The hell was that?” Dallas turned around to see what happened.

“I gesticulated too hard, smacked the car by accident” he said, cradling his hand.

Emi laughed, “Dork. Why was your aunt in Houston?”

“She was stationed at the army base in town. Said she had lunch here every day,” Aiden answered.

The inside of the restaurant sounded like a party and smelled like someone had spilled a margarita into a spice cabinet.   
“It’s loud in here,” Dallas commented.  
And that it was. Spanish music played over the speakers, but most of the noise was caused by customers in seats. They sat down in a booth near the bar, Dallas and Emi started looking through their menus, while Aiden pulled a handful of sugar packets out of their caddy and started stacking them on top of the salt shaker. 

Emi nodded to the tower of sugar, “Are you planning on looking through the menu anytime soon?” she asked

“No need, I already know what I’m having,” Aiden said  
“Two tacos and a burrito, the same thing he gets at every Mexican restaurant he goes to,” Dallas explained  
Aiden wondered if he was really that predictable, but pushed that out of his mind. Dallas was a very observant person, they all knew that. besides, even if he was, it didn’t much matter, right? He reached to grab another sugar packet, but knocked down his tower in the process.

“Damnit!” he muttered, going to restart the tower.

“7 packets,” Emi noted, “that has to be a record!”

Dallas shook their head, “his record is 10. I think you had the flu, so you didn’t see, but he celebrated like it was his birthday or something!” They laughed

“I was proud! And yeah, she was sick, that’s why we went to the Denny's after school instead of going over to her house,” 

Emi laughed, “what a thing to miss!” she said

This was the sort of thing Aiden had hoped for, simply hanging out with his two best friends with no other responsibilities. Something about it made him sad, though. He looked at Emi laughing at some joke Dallas had told, and decided that what was bothering him is that this, too, would have to end. He was already feeling nostalgic for something that wasn’t even over. He leaned forward, folding his arms on the table in front of him, and rejoined the conversation. He decided that trapping himself inside of his own head was only going to waste the time they had on the trip.


	3. 8 days

8 days: Nashville  
“Remind me again, why are we in Nashville?” Dallas asked as they walked out of the hotel that they had spent the night in. they had arrived the night before and were planning on spending the day exploring the city before getting back on the road.

“To be perfectly honest?” Aiden started, “No reason. It was the only major city I could think of between Houston and Chicago,”

Emi frowned, “So what are you planning on us doing here?” she asked

Aiden shrugged, “No clue! I planned out nearly every moment of this trip, I figured we might just… explore today,”

Dallas ran a hand through their wildly curly brown hair, “So were just walking around an unfamiliar city without any plans whatsoever?” they asked.

Emi laughed, “Now that sounds like the Aiden I know!” she said, elbowing Aiden in the ribs as they approached the car.

Aiden laughed as he got into the driver's seat. She was right, he knew. Normally he was the one in the group to run headfirst into ridiculous plans without thought, relying on either Emi to talk him out of them or on Dallas to help him make them more reasonable. The amount of planning that went into this road trip was wildly uncharacteristic for him.  
“So,” Dallas said, pulling their phone out of their pocket and opening google, “What is there to do in Nashville?”

Emi shrugged, “Isn’t there a johnny cash museum here?” she said, “I know the country music hall of fame is here, too,”

Dallas made a gagging noise, “yeah, no. no one here like’s country,”

“Just thinking out loud!” Emi said, raising her hands in defense.

“How does ‘Cheekwood Botanical Garden and Museum of Art’ sound?” Dallas suggested.

“How does it sound? I don’t know, ‘Cheekwood’ sounds kinda dirty…” Aiden grinned.

Emi laughed, “You’re a child,” she said, “Yeah, that sounds like fun. What’s the address? I’ll put it into the GPS,”

They decided to walk the sculpture trail when they arrived. Dallas had their phone open to the museum's website, looking at the information for each art piece as they passed.  
They came across a metal arch that looked like something out of minecraft, with how blocky and angular it was.  
“‘Cheekwood Prime Matter’”, they read, “it’s supposed to be symbolic of the four elements or something like that,” 

Aiden cocked his head, “Like Avatar?” He asked

Emi looked like she was going to correct him, but creased her eyebrows and said, “Yeah, like Avatar, I guess so,”

Aiden crossed his arms, feigning pride, “See! I know things!”  
They kept going, walking along the trail and talking about nothing. 

“This one is called ‘steeple dance’,” Dallas read, pointing toward a trio of pointed metal columns in front of them. They were red with rust, and bent like they were carrying something far too heavy for them. 

Aiden frowned, “It looks like it needs cleaning,” he said

Dallas shook their head, “No, they’re supposed to look like that. They were put here to rust, to become reclaimed by nature. They aren't supposed to be perfect forever,”

Emi put her hand to one of the statues, “That,” she said, “Or this is what perfect looks like. It’s unnatural to stay the same forever. It’s not like the rust makes them ugly, this is just the progression of time. It says that change is natural, not something to be fixed or stopped or reversed,”

Aiden blew a raspberry at her, “Alrighty there, Aristotle, thank’s for the philosophy lesson,” he said, causing her to make a silly face at him.

 

Aiden stared at the statue in front of him with wide eyes, “What the hell is that?!” He said. It looked like a woman crawling along the ground, with two major differences: it had the head of a very large rabbit, and it was about 15 feet tall.

“It’s called ‘crawling lady hare’,” Dallas said, stepping back.

“It should be called ‘the thing small children have nightmares about,’” Emi said. She turned to see Aiden’s response to her joke, but he wasn’t next to her anymore. He was Running toward the statue at full speed.   
“AIDEN! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?!” She shouted,  
“TAKE MY PICTURE! I’M GONNA PRETEND LIKE IT’S TRYING TO EAT ME!” he yelled back.


	4. 7 days

7 days: A hotel room in Louisville, Kentucky  
Aiden never liked the silence, ever since he was a kid. As he stood in the hotel room bathroom brushing his teeth, the silence was bothering him even more than it normally would. He finished brushing his teeth and opened the bathroom door, hanging out of the room by holding onto the door frame. Dallas was already asleep (“I’ve gone to sleep at 10:30 at night every night since 6th grade, and i have no intent of changing this because of some road trip!”) but Emi was sitting up in the hotel bed with a book in her lap. Her long black hair was braided into pigtails, and she was wearing a flowery nightgown with with lace on the collar. She almost looked like a photograph from the 1940’s, if it wasn’t for the iPhone charging on the table next to her.

“Whatcha reading?” Aiden asked, nodding to the book.

Emi held up the book, it was the copy of “catcher in the rye” that she had bought in 10th grade.

Aiden chuckled, “That’s ironic,” he said, “if I remember correctly, nearly this exact scene happens at the beginning of that book,”

Emi looked up, “yes, it does. But it's funny, not ironic. Irony means something saying the opposite of what it really is.” she smiled at the book, then back up at Aiden, “Of all the figures in literature to compare yourself to, you pick Ackley,” she smiled at him.

“Oh, did you peg me as more of a Gatsby?” Aiden smirked

“Or a Dill Harris,” she joked

He hopped out of the door, making his way to sit on the chair near the bed, “See, I don’t actually remember who that is, so if that was an insult it was lost on me,”

She raised an eyebrow, “Scout and Jem’s friend from ‘to kill a mockingbird’?” she said

“Oh, see, I never read that book,”

She shook her head, “yes you did, we read it in ms. William's class,”

Aiden leaned back in the chair, so that it was only standing on it’s back two legs, “Thank god for sparknotes,” he said

She shook her head, “that’s despicable,” she laughed, “Have you read a single book that was assigned to you since 5th grade?”  
He made a thinking face and held up his hands like he was counting on his fingers, “um… no, I can’t say I have, buddyroo!”

Emi shook her head at the nickname. Aiden was the kind of guy to unironically say things like “buddyroo” and “pal” and use finger guns in every imaginable situation. He always had been.  
She closed the book and tapped it against her leg, something she had a habit of doing when she was thinking about something important. 

“Why did you bring us here?” she asked

He shrugged, “It would have been rude to leave you guys in Houston. Besides, I need Dallas’s ID to get a room,”

She didn’t laugh, “That’s not what I meant. I mean why did you plan this trip in the first place?”

He sat the chair back down on all fours, “I thought it would be fun. I wanted to hang out with you two for a couple weeks, is there a problem?”

“There’s no need to get defensive,”

“I’m not!”

She looked at him with her eyebrows raised.

“Okay, I hear it now,” he said. 

“It’s just… you’ve been acting strange lately, I wanted to make sure everything was alright with you,”

He looked at the ground. She was right, and there was no use hiding it anymore, “I just… I don’t want to lose you two,” he said, “We’re graduating in a year, and after that… I don’t know. My parents barely keep in touch with their friends from high school. You two are like siblings to me, I don’t want that to go away. I thought maybe something like this would help keep us together...” 

She nodded, “that’s what I thought. Listen to me, Aiden, you can’t stop time from passing. Graduation is gonna happen. But here’s the thing- that doesn’t mean we aren’t gonna be friends anymore. It’s not like any of us are planning on leaving town, right? And even if we do drift apart, you can’t stop time from passing, or people from changing, it doesn’t work,”

He chewed on the inside of his cheek, “So you’re okay with us just… drifting apart?” he asked. Hearing her say that felt like betrayal, in a way. 

She took a deep breath, “no, I’m not,” she said, “but whatever happens, happens,” 

“When did you get so grown up, Emi?” he said.

“Long before you did, it seems,” she smiled at him. 

They sat in silence for a while, neither of them moving. The air felt still, the only sound was Dallas’s breath as they slept in the other bed.

Finally, Emi broke the silence, “I’d like to be a teacher one day, did you know that?” she asked

“I thought you wanted to be a doctor?”

She shook her head, “I tell my parents that because they want me to be one, but I really want to teach language arts. Maybe even at our school,” she said

“I think you’d be a good teacher,” he said

“Really?”

“Yeah! You certainly know the source material well enough,” Aiden said, “How many times have you read that book?”

She smiled, “At least 5, but i’ve lost count. What about you?”

“I already told you, I sparkenoted every book since age 10, I didn’t read anything past page 20 in that book,”

“No, I mean what do you want to do after school?”

He thought for a moment, and when he spoke again his voice was softer, it didn’t have the same brashness it normally did, “I think I want to be a counselor,” he said. When he was in elementary school and his parents had divorced, the school counselor had helped him through it. The same was true when he was diagnosed with adhd in middle school and he started receiving counseling to help him in school. He thought it might be nice to help other people like him. 

“I think you’d be good at that, too” 

They sat in silence again for a bit before he got up and started walking toward the couch, “Okay, I have to drive tomorrow, so I better get some sleep,” he said

“You aren’t seriously planning on sleeping on the couch!”

“The beds are taken, I'm not gonna ask one of you to move!” 

She rolled her eyes, “they’re queen sized beds, Aiden, just share with one of us!”

He frowned, “Isn’t that.. Weird?” he said, but he was walking toward the bed anyway.

“What, are you afraid I’m gonna try something?!” she laughed, “You said it yourself, you’re like my brother! Besides, I’m just as gay as I’ve always been. It’s not like either of those two things is gonna change,” she rolled over to go to sleep.

Aiden had never been quick to fall asleep, (his aforementioned counselor said that insomnia was probably due to his adhd), so he layed on his back, staring at the ceiling for a while. Emi was right, just like she always was. He shouldn’t try to ignore time passing. He should be thankful for what he has when he has it, instead of worrying when it was going to go away.  
Easier said than done, though. It would take some practice. But he was willing to try.


	5. 5 days

5 days: Chicago

“You’re in one of the biggest food cities in the country, and you want to go to a freaking McDonald's?” Emi stared at Dallas, her mouth agape, as they pointed to a mcbuilding on a corner in Chicago's theater district. 

Dallas shrugged, “We’ve been walking around downtown for ages, and I’m hungry. There’ll be plenty of time for five star meals later, but right now I want a McRib and neither of you are gonna keep me from it,”

Aiden swung the door open, holding it for the other two, “And here you are, assuming that I can afford a five star meal! I only had so much saved up for this trip, you two!” he laughed.

The McDonald's itself was small, with a bar wrapping around the windows that had stools to sit on. The trio sat, watching people on the streets file through the theater district, sometimes stopping to point out a new show that was playing or to take a picture of themselves on the street. 

“It’s getting dark,” Dallas noted around a mouthful of fries, “we should be getting back to the room soon,”

“Are you afraid of being out after dark?” Aiden teased

Emi elbowed him, “Three teenagers in Chicago with no protection out after dark? I don’t know about Dallas, but I’m pretty spooked,”

Aiden laughed, “Yeah, you’re right. Once we’re done I’ll call a cab, then we can get back to the room,”

As they chatted about nothing, Aiden replied the day in his head. They had spent the day meandering around, stopping at shops and cafes as they pleased, spending some time a Millennium Park to take pictures with the bean, exploring the Michigan Avenue mall, and stopping at every bookstore Emi saw. As he reviewed the day, he realized that the trip was more than halfway over. Part of him was saddened by this, that part wished that he could stay here forever. But another part was happy that he had the time he did. That was the part he decided to focus on.


End file.
